BMW Plant Regensburg is where the 1 Series, X1, and X2 call home, but the family is bound to grow in the latter half of the decade. The German luxury brand intends to spend €200 million (about $218M) by the end of the year to prepare the factory to produce a future model. Its identity is not being disclosed for now, but we do know it will be underpinned by the Neue Klasse platform.
The factory already has the expertise to make zero-emission models since the iX1 and iX2 are rolling off the assembly line there. The two crossovers share the UKL2 platform with the X1 and X2 powered by combustion engines. This new mysterious model will be developed from the ground up strictly as an EV. It’s unlikely to arrive before 2027 considering the iX3 is due in 2025 at the Debrecen plant in Hungary and the i3 in 2026 from the Munich factory.
BMW also plans to make Neue Klasse cars in Mexico and China. The EV onslaught will include at least six vehicles at the Spartanburg factory until 2030 but it’s not known how many will use NK hardware. Chances are all the models that will be built in South Carolina are going to be SUVs – as is the case nowadays with the X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and XM.
Strangely, BMW’s press release issued today doesn’t highlight this announcement as it puts the spotlight on production numbers. Plant Regensburg made 238,301 vehicles in 2023 and intends to build even more this year. It hired more than 500 workers last year and will add a further 600 employees in 2024 to enable greater production capacity. The goal is to make well over 300,000 units annually after adding a night shift last November.
To date, Plant Regensburg has assembled more than eight million cars and it produces about 1,300 1 Series, X1/iX1, and X2/iX2 vehicles each day. Which Neue Klasse EV will be added to this list? Perhaps the rumored i1 scheduled to arrive in 2028 to serve as the company’s entry-level electric car. However, this is merely a speculation on our part. Other NK-based cars likely coming before 2030 are believed to be an i3 Touring and an iX4.
Source: BMW
